I like talking to people from other countries. I like even more traveling to other countries. It is interesting to hear the perspective that foreigners have.

Recently I was going to sign a petition on Change.org. It was to stop a mass execution in Egypt. At least that is what I thought it was.

Before I signed the petition I remembered my friend Wassim at the laundromat. He is from Egypt and he gave me the scoop on the politics of that country last time I was washing my couch cushions.

I needed to wash them again and so I waited until I consulted with my Egyptian expert before I signed that petition.

As I suspected the petition did not reveal the truth. The 500 people who were to be executed were mass murderers themselves. They killed many people and the new regime is trying to wash the dirt of innocent blood from its hands by eliminating their threat.

I was glad that I had waited and did not sign that petition.

I have been a bit dismayed at the avenue that Change.org is taking. It seems to be a soap box for politicians to whine and cry about their current issues.

I was horrified to learn that mistakenly I had signed one in favor of Greg Abbott for governor. If he is as bad at running the state as he is at running the Child Support division, then Texas is due for a load of hurt if he is elected.

I would caution everyone about these petition websites. Some of them are good but unless you know the back story to a petition you really shouldn’t sign a petition. If it wasn’t for my friend, Wassim, I would have been part of the problem instead of someone who was an informed and educated citizen.

The proper path for any activist is information gathering and  education before activism. Once you have your facts you can beat down most politicians. Politicians seldom know the facts. As a result of their ignorance they fall back on propaganda which is most possibly a bold faced lie.